Hello fellow air rifle aficionados it is good to be a part of a community of such wealth of info! I would like to share my experiences with Leupold scopes of which I must confess I'm a fanboy...although it is a bit of a bittersweet relationship. It seems like Leupold gets so close to greatness but there is always one or two annoying problems with their scope design or application. Let me qualify all that I'm about to talk about with this: 1) I only own .177 Weihrauch springers with which 90% of the time I'm shooting no farther than 50 meters and 2) my only purposes for those springers is plinking and small game hunting or pesting. Keep this in mind for this analysis...
The most important features of a good springer scope are that it holds zero, has reasonably good glass clarity(maybe this is more a personal OCD thing), and can focus down to 10 meters. I would guesstimate that most springer owners do most of there shooting at distances no greater 50 meters...as do I. This is really about the max distance that the kill zone precision required for small game can be achieved, at least for me. FWIW, I can fairly consistently shoot a quarter out to 50 meters with my HW97. With my HW50 that precision is only possible out to between 30-40 meters. All this to say, that a springer scope doesn't need to have terribly high magnification, super advanced reticles/turrets, or whatever other features many long range precision scopes may have. After trying many different scopes from multiples companies I finally settled on no more than 4 scopes that do everything that I need a springer scope to do and that meet the three criteria that I listed above. Starting from the most expensive...1) Meopta Optika6 3-18x50 MRAD1 IR FFP, 2) Leupold Mark 3HD 4-12x40 TMR Side-Focus, 3) Meopta Optika5 2-10x44 PA, 4) and finally the Leupold VX-Freedom/VX-II 3-9x33 EFR. The last two retail for the same price and are rivals no doubt. The Leupold weighs 12 oz to the Optika5's 21 oz but the Optika5 has side-focus and superior turrets. The glass quality of the two is very similar and is quite good.
But wait a minute...the Leupold Mark 3HD doesn't focus down to 10 meters I can hear you saying. That is correct. This is also true of it's very close cousin the VX-Freedom AR 4-12x40 TMR Side-Focus(MIL based), it's relative the VX-Freedom 4-12x40 Tri-MOA Side-Focus(MOA based), and it's slightly more distance family member the Mark AR Mod-1 4-12x40 AO.(Side note: all three of these scopes share the exact same glass and coatings which is identical to what the discontinued VX-II possessed; however, the Mark 3HD has better glass and/or coatings according to Leupold. Otherwise, I believe the Mark 3HD and VX-Freedom AR 4-12 Side-Focus are identical scopes) Focusing down to 10 yards isn't exactly a huge deal breaker for everyone but it certainly better allows the full potential of an air rifle to be realized. Who doesn't love punching paper at 10 meters in the basement on a snowy January day? The fact that these Leupold scopes don't focus quite that low(at maximum magnification which should be a given, any scope generally is fairly clear at very close distances when at 4X or lower magnification) is a bit of letdown on an otherwise promising package. Leupold does make other EFR models but I've found them to be exorbitantly priced and I don't particularly care for the AO style of parallax adjustment. It does seem to attribute to a slightly lighter package but I much prefer side-focus for ease of use. The Mark AR Mod-1 4-12 was very close to being the perfect all-around springer scope IMO. They were durable, reliable, light, and compact. They had P5 elevation and windage turrets, good glass clarity, offered a mil-dot reticle, and focused down to 20 meters; maybe even a bit less. Still, it didn't focus down to 10 meters. It had a 1" tube, 2-piece tube design, and the AO I found to be a bit ergonomically frustrating. The other three Leupolds that I mentioned all have a 30mm tube, 1-piece tube design, and side-focus. However, they still don't focus down to 10 meters. Or do they?
Now might be a good time to talk about scope weight. Scope weight isn't everything but it is definitely a factor in my book. I personally think that a lighter more compact scope may attribute to better accuracy in springers...which can be somewhat hold sensitive. This is one thing that Leupold has going for them. Almost across their entire line up you can pretty much count on it that Leupold's scope is going to be lighter than that of an equivalent competitors. The Leupold 3-9x33 EFR is the lightest air rifle scope that I know of in production at just over 12 oz. The afore mentioned Mark AR Mod-1 4-12 comes in at a little over 15 oz. Even the newer side-focus, 30mm tube, 4-12 variants come in at just over 16 oz! For comparison, the Mark 3HD 4-12 with 2" sunshade, alumina caps, scope level, and Leupold QR rings comes in at 23.6 oz total. That is .6 oz less than the Meopta Optika5 2-10 PA naked(expect for Leupold QR scope rings) which weighs 24.2 oz! But again...the Optika5 focuses down to 10 meters and the Leupold doesn't so the former is obviously a better air rifle scope, right?
The three Leupold side-focus, 30 mm tube, 4-12 variants all focus to somewhere near 25 meters on the minimum parallax setting at max magnification. Not too bad...but not good enough for OCD people like me. For the purpose of simplicity we shall assume henceforth that we are always at max magnification when we refer to parallax/focus. Another thing we will assume is that the diopter focus(eye-piece adjustment or reticle focus or whatever you want to call it) has been set to your eye and stays fixed from there. I say this because the parallax setting is actually dependent on the diopter setting. For this reason, one persons experience with minimum parallax setting may differ from anothers with the same scope because of difference of eye strength and focus. This is why it is crucial to always set the diopter setting first(and lock it) and then adjust the parallax secondly. FWIW, I have 20-20 vision and end up with the diopter settings approximately in the middle of the range of adjustment on almost all scopes. Moving on...there is this thing called...adjusting the parallax on a fixed parallax scope. https://www.airgunnation.com/threads/adjusting-parallax-on-a-fixed-parallax-scope.1161480/
It just so happens, that this little hack doesn't only work for fixed parallax scopes but also for some side-focus scopes. In other words, what if we could internally adjust the parallax of these Leupold scopes to bring the side-focus minimum adjustment down to 10 meters? Well, I did just that! Note!! I am not recommending this and I shall not be held responsible for any problem that arises from attempting this. For the record, I've successfully adjusted two of these Leupold side-focus scopes by myself with zero issues. I do not have experience with the 6-18 and 8-24 variants of these scopes.
I own the Leupold Mark 3HD 4-12x40 w/ a TMR reticle but found that the closest that it would focus is somewhere near to 25 meters. So, I removed the ocular lock ring and rotated the internal ocular glass housing counterclockwise approximately two full revolutions. This brought my minumum focus down to a razor crisp image at 10 meters! I was elated! Until I realized that the maximum parallax was now...only about 50 meters...FAIL. So, apparently the range of adjustment is not great enough in these scopes to go from 10 meters-infinity. I found a compromise. Rotating the internal ocular glass housing approximately 1/4 of a turn clockwise(for a total of approximately 1.5-1.75 revolutions counterclockwise from factory) resulted in a razor sharp image from 12 meters-100 meters and reasonably clear images at closer and farther distances. Now, at the minimum parallax setting, turning the magnification down to 8X gave a very crisp focus at 10 meters and at 12X magnification a crystal clear focus at 12 meters! Success! For my purposes with .177 springers this is everything that I need this scope to do. The only drawback with adjusting the scope like this is that the maximum parallax setting is now 100 meters. Further distances do seem a touch fuzzy but no different that all the other non-parallax adjustable scopes out there. Longer distances with 12X and lower mag scopes really don't generally need parallax adjustments for the the image to be reasonably clear. Obviously, if they did every big game rifle scope would have parallax adjustment but most don't and are set at a fixed parallax of usually 100 yards and sometimes 150 yards.
Why is this Mark 3HD 4-12x40 TMR Side-Focus my new favorite springer scope? Well, first of all it now meets all three of the criteria that I mentioned earlier. It's 1) reliable, durable, holds zero 2) has very good glass quality 3) and focuses down to 10 meters. Otherwise...4) I'm a big fan of the reticle which is a very thicc and bold TMR, mil based reticle. It's perfect for hunting in the woods or in lowlight situations; very visible and being a SFP stays the same size. If I was precision shooting past 50 meters it would be too thick but for what my Weihrauch HW50 and HW97 can do it's perfection. 5) Custom Dial Compatible...figure out your drops for a particular projectile, send them to Leupold, and get a custom dial that eliminates all calculations. It would be wise to be sure your air rifle is professionally tuned and has settled into a consistent fpe output before doing this. 6) 40mm objective; it's quite difficult to find a 30mm tube scope with only a 40mm objective and the advantage of this is that you can mount it super low and close to the barrel. This gives several advantages...1) less holdover at very close ranges 2) more compact profile 3) better accuracy potential; the closer to center of mass the scope is the more consistent your accuracy will be; particularly with a springer 4) superior cheek weld and easier eye alignment 7) alumina flip caps; if you've never used these before...well, if you know you know
These are only a few of the reasons that the Leupold Mark 3HD is now my favorite springer scope...but the Optika5 2-10 PA is a close second. The advantages of the Leupold is slightly better glass quality and better reticle while the Meopta does focus a bit closer. Maybe just keep it simple and get the Meopta.
The most important features of a good springer scope are that it holds zero, has reasonably good glass clarity(maybe this is more a personal OCD thing), and can focus down to 10 meters. I would guesstimate that most springer owners do most of there shooting at distances no greater 50 meters...as do I. This is really about the max distance that the kill zone precision required for small game can be achieved, at least for me. FWIW, I can fairly consistently shoot a quarter out to 50 meters with my HW97. With my HW50 that precision is only possible out to between 30-40 meters. All this to say, that a springer scope doesn't need to have terribly high magnification, super advanced reticles/turrets, or whatever other features many long range precision scopes may have. After trying many different scopes from multiples companies I finally settled on no more than 4 scopes that do everything that I need a springer scope to do and that meet the three criteria that I listed above. Starting from the most expensive...1) Meopta Optika6 3-18x50 MRAD1 IR FFP, 2) Leupold Mark 3HD 4-12x40 TMR Side-Focus, 3) Meopta Optika5 2-10x44 PA, 4) and finally the Leupold VX-Freedom/VX-II 3-9x33 EFR. The last two retail for the same price and are rivals no doubt. The Leupold weighs 12 oz to the Optika5's 21 oz but the Optika5 has side-focus and superior turrets. The glass quality of the two is very similar and is quite good.
But wait a minute...the Leupold Mark 3HD doesn't focus down to 10 meters I can hear you saying. That is correct. This is also true of it's very close cousin the VX-Freedom AR 4-12x40 TMR Side-Focus(MIL based), it's relative the VX-Freedom 4-12x40 Tri-MOA Side-Focus(MOA based), and it's slightly more distance family member the Mark AR Mod-1 4-12x40 AO.(Side note: all three of these scopes share the exact same glass and coatings which is identical to what the discontinued VX-II possessed; however, the Mark 3HD has better glass and/or coatings according to Leupold. Otherwise, I believe the Mark 3HD and VX-Freedom AR 4-12 Side-Focus are identical scopes) Focusing down to 10 yards isn't exactly a huge deal breaker for everyone but it certainly better allows the full potential of an air rifle to be realized. Who doesn't love punching paper at 10 meters in the basement on a snowy January day? The fact that these Leupold scopes don't focus quite that low(at maximum magnification which should be a given, any scope generally is fairly clear at very close distances when at 4X or lower magnification) is a bit of letdown on an otherwise promising package. Leupold does make other EFR models but I've found them to be exorbitantly priced and I don't particularly care for the AO style of parallax adjustment. It does seem to attribute to a slightly lighter package but I much prefer side-focus for ease of use. The Mark AR Mod-1 4-12 was very close to being the perfect all-around springer scope IMO. They were durable, reliable, light, and compact. They had P5 elevation and windage turrets, good glass clarity, offered a mil-dot reticle, and focused down to 20 meters; maybe even a bit less. Still, it didn't focus down to 10 meters. It had a 1" tube, 2-piece tube design, and the AO I found to be a bit ergonomically frustrating. The other three Leupolds that I mentioned all have a 30mm tube, 1-piece tube design, and side-focus. However, they still don't focus down to 10 meters. Or do they?
Now might be a good time to talk about scope weight. Scope weight isn't everything but it is definitely a factor in my book. I personally think that a lighter more compact scope may attribute to better accuracy in springers...which can be somewhat hold sensitive. This is one thing that Leupold has going for them. Almost across their entire line up you can pretty much count on it that Leupold's scope is going to be lighter than that of an equivalent competitors. The Leupold 3-9x33 EFR is the lightest air rifle scope that I know of in production at just over 12 oz. The afore mentioned Mark AR Mod-1 4-12 comes in at a little over 15 oz. Even the newer side-focus, 30mm tube, 4-12 variants come in at just over 16 oz! For comparison, the Mark 3HD 4-12 with 2" sunshade, alumina caps, scope level, and Leupold QR rings comes in at 23.6 oz total. That is .6 oz less than the Meopta Optika5 2-10 PA naked(expect for Leupold QR scope rings) which weighs 24.2 oz! But again...the Optika5 focuses down to 10 meters and the Leupold doesn't so the former is obviously a better air rifle scope, right?
The three Leupold side-focus, 30 mm tube, 4-12 variants all focus to somewhere near 25 meters on the minimum parallax setting at max magnification. Not too bad...but not good enough for OCD people like me. For the purpose of simplicity we shall assume henceforth that we are always at max magnification when we refer to parallax/focus. Another thing we will assume is that the diopter focus(eye-piece adjustment or reticle focus or whatever you want to call it) has been set to your eye and stays fixed from there. I say this because the parallax setting is actually dependent on the diopter setting. For this reason, one persons experience with minimum parallax setting may differ from anothers with the same scope because of difference of eye strength and focus. This is why it is crucial to always set the diopter setting first(and lock it) and then adjust the parallax secondly. FWIW, I have 20-20 vision and end up with the diopter settings approximately in the middle of the range of adjustment on almost all scopes. Moving on...there is this thing called...adjusting the parallax on a fixed parallax scope. https://www.airgunnation.com/threads/adjusting-parallax-on-a-fixed-parallax-scope.1161480/
It just so happens, that this little hack doesn't only work for fixed parallax scopes but also for some side-focus scopes. In other words, what if we could internally adjust the parallax of these Leupold scopes to bring the side-focus minimum adjustment down to 10 meters? Well, I did just that! Note!! I am not recommending this and I shall not be held responsible for any problem that arises from attempting this. For the record, I've successfully adjusted two of these Leupold side-focus scopes by myself with zero issues. I do not have experience with the 6-18 and 8-24 variants of these scopes.
I own the Leupold Mark 3HD 4-12x40 w/ a TMR reticle but found that the closest that it would focus is somewhere near to 25 meters. So, I removed the ocular lock ring and rotated the internal ocular glass housing counterclockwise approximately two full revolutions. This brought my minumum focus down to a razor crisp image at 10 meters! I was elated! Until I realized that the maximum parallax was now...only about 50 meters...FAIL. So, apparently the range of adjustment is not great enough in these scopes to go from 10 meters-infinity. I found a compromise. Rotating the internal ocular glass housing approximately 1/4 of a turn clockwise(for a total of approximately 1.5-1.75 revolutions counterclockwise from factory) resulted in a razor sharp image from 12 meters-100 meters and reasonably clear images at closer and farther distances. Now, at the minimum parallax setting, turning the magnification down to 8X gave a very crisp focus at 10 meters and at 12X magnification a crystal clear focus at 12 meters! Success! For my purposes with .177 springers this is everything that I need this scope to do. The only drawback with adjusting the scope like this is that the maximum parallax setting is now 100 meters. Further distances do seem a touch fuzzy but no different that all the other non-parallax adjustable scopes out there. Longer distances with 12X and lower mag scopes really don't generally need parallax adjustments for the the image to be reasonably clear. Obviously, if they did every big game rifle scope would have parallax adjustment but most don't and are set at a fixed parallax of usually 100 yards and sometimes 150 yards.
Why is this Mark 3HD 4-12x40 TMR Side-Focus my new favorite springer scope? Well, first of all it now meets all three of the criteria that I mentioned earlier. It's 1) reliable, durable, holds zero 2) has very good glass quality 3) and focuses down to 10 meters. Otherwise...4) I'm a big fan of the reticle which is a very thicc and bold TMR, mil based reticle. It's perfect for hunting in the woods or in lowlight situations; very visible and being a SFP stays the same size. If I was precision shooting past 50 meters it would be too thick but for what my Weihrauch HW50 and HW97 can do it's perfection. 5) Custom Dial Compatible...figure out your drops for a particular projectile, send them to Leupold, and get a custom dial that eliminates all calculations. It would be wise to be sure your air rifle is professionally tuned and has settled into a consistent fpe output before doing this. 6) 40mm objective; it's quite difficult to find a 30mm tube scope with only a 40mm objective and the advantage of this is that you can mount it super low and close to the barrel. This gives several advantages...1) less holdover at very close ranges 2) more compact profile 3) better accuracy potential; the closer to center of mass the scope is the more consistent your accuracy will be; particularly with a springer 4) superior cheek weld and easier eye alignment 7) alumina flip caps; if you've never used these before...well, if you know you know
These are only a few of the reasons that the Leupold Mark 3HD is now my favorite springer scope...but the Optika5 2-10 PA is a close second. The advantages of the Leupold is slightly better glass quality and better reticle while the Meopta does focus a bit closer. Maybe just keep it simple and get the Meopta.
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